Entrepreneurship is both exciting and overwhelming at the same time. On one hand, you are excited to start your own project and finally be your own boss but on the other hand, there are so many things that you need to manage in order to ensure the success of your new venture. In this article, we will discuss the 7 most common pitfalls that entrepreneurs face. Go through this list carefully so you have a better idea on how to avoid the pitfalls of entrepreneurship. Here’s what the most common pitfalls of entrepreneurship are:
Underestimating the learning curve of new business
Your past experience and the nature of your business will be the most important factor in determining the learning curve you will have to face in your new endeavor, but most people underestimate the learning curve and start a new venture while not comprehending the true scale of work that will be required to make your project a success. According to market analysis, 90% of new ventures fail within a year and the biggest reason behind that is the underestimation on the behalf of the entrepreneur.
The best thing you can do is to start your new venture with the mentality of a student who is both humble and eager to learn. If you open yourself to learning new things, you will make excellent progress in your new venture.
Getting no feedback
Time and time again businesses make this grave mistake of neglecting the customer. Some of the largest companies in the world went bankrupt simply because of the fact that they didn’t listen to the feedback they were getting from their customers. As an owner of a new business, it is very important for you to keep open communication lines with your customers and seek feedback in order to better understand the needs of your customers. When getting feedback, always remember to not take it personally and just use it to constructively to improve your products and services,
Pretending to be an entrepreneur
As an entrepreneur, you should be proud of yourself for taking the risk and starting something new but at the same time you cannot let yourself lose the focus. Many new ventures fail because the entrepreneurs decide to pour huge sums of money into the image of their business. Renting out a fancy office, hiring new employees and furnishing your offices without having a stable cash flow is a recipe for disaster. Remember, some of the most iconic companies in the world including Apple and Google were started in home garages. Before you start acting like an entrepreneur, identify the pitfalls of entrepreneurship and make sure your business becomes stable.
All at once
Don’t make the mistake of doing too much too soon because it can overcomplicate things and also overwhelm your customers. If you are starting a new venture, make sure to offer products and services that are well thought off and address the needs of your potential clients. Doing so will ensure that your business gets the brand identity it needs. Offering too many products or variations can often confuse the customer and your brand will never form a memorable impression in your customer’s mind.
Just start simple and improve and offer a new alternative after gathering valuable feedback from your customers.
Ignoring competition
Many new businesses underestimate or simply ignore the competition because they believe what they are offering is better than the competition and this should be the reason enough from customers to come to you but in reality, nothing can be further from the truth. Human beings seek familiarity and avoid newer experience therefore if your competition has client loyalty, you cannot simply expect the customers to flock to you. You need to convince your potential customers to try your services and to do so, you need to study and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your competition and adjust your services and prices accordingly.
Poor delegation skills
As an entrepreneur, one of the most valuable skills that you need to learn is the art of delegation. So many new entrepreneurs sink their businesses just because they don’t know how to delegate and therefore they don’t have a smooth operation from the get go and the business is solely relying on one person.
If you want to diversify risk and ensure optimal day to day operation of your business, make sure to delegate properly.
Forgetting fundamentals
Many new entrepreneurial ventures see extremely good growth in the initial phase, but later on everything comes crashing down just because the business forgot its fundamentals. The success of your entrepreneurial project will greatly depend on your commitment to your fundamentals.
Your fundamentals are the one thing that make your business unique, and if you forget your fundamentals, you are most certainly bound to repeat the pitfalls of entrepreneurship and likely fail.